SpaceShipOne test pilot Brian Binnie

Brian Binnie is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... SpaceShipOne is small, having a three-person cabin and short but wide wings. ... A spaceplane is a rocket plane designed to pass the edge of space. ... Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled) was founded in 1982 in Mojave, California by famous aircraft designer Burt Rutan out of what used to be the Rutan Aircraft Factory. ...

Binnie, an alumnus of Brown and Princeton Universities, served for 20 years in the United States Navy as a naval aviator flying the A-7 Corsair II, A-6 Intruder, F/A-18 Hornet, and AV-8B Harrier II. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1988. Binnie also copiloted the Atmospheric Test Vehicle of the Rotary Rocket. Brown University is an Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is the fifth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft. ... A-7 Corsair II The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II was a light attack aircraft based on the F-8 Crusader. ... The Grumman A-6 Intruder is a US attack aircraft. ... April 2003: Two United States Navy F/A-18 Hornets prepare to launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman. ... April 7th 2003: an AV-8B Harrier takes off from the assault ship USS Nassau, to engage targets over Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom See also Hawker Siddeley Harrier The Harrier II is a second generation, vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) light-attack jet aircraft used... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Roton test vehicle at the Mojave Airport. ...

On 17 December 2003, the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, Binnie piloted the first powered test flight of SpaceShipOne, flight 11P, which reached a top speed of Mach 1.2 and a height of 20.7 kilometers. On October 4, 2004 he piloted SpaceShipOne's second Ansari X Prize flight, flight 17P, winning the X Prize and becoming the 434th person, and the first native of Scotland, to go into space. Reaching a height of about 112 km, Binnie became only the second person to earn his astronaut wings on a non-government spacecraft. His flight set a rocket plane height record, breaking the old record set by the North American X-15 in 1963. December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 - January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 - May 30, 1912), are sometimes credited with the design and construction of the first practical aeroplane, and making the first controllable, powered heavier-than-air flight along with many other aviation milestones. ... Flight 11P of SpaceShipOne was its eighth independent flight, its first powered flight, and the first privately-funded manned flight to reach supersonic speeds. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The X prize logo shows a stylised letter X representing a spacecraft trajectory and containing a starfield. ... Flight 17P of SpaceShipOne was a spaceflight in the Tier One program that took place on October 4, 2004. ... An Astronaut Badge is a United States, awarded to military aviation pilots who have completed Astronaut training with NASA and performed a successful space flight. ... A rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket for propulsion, sometimes in addition to jet engines. ... The X-15 in flight, early 1960s The North American X-15 rocket plane was perhaps the most important of the USAF/USN X-series of experimental aircraft. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Quotes

"I wake up every morning and thank God I live in a country where all of this is possible. Where you have the Yankee ingenuity to roll up your sleeves, get a band of people who believe in something and go for it and make it happen. It doesn't happen anywhere else." — October 4, 2004, at a ceremony after completing flight 17P [1]

October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External link

• Scaled Composites biography
• Comments on a visit and talk by Binnie (February 16, 2005)
• Spacefacts biography of Brian Binnie